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Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Yes he is a bit slow - but considering I am still in the BSN I think the technical and mental aspects of his game will still be more than useful of the bench - and hope he can pass on a few moves to the kids

Was found via a backroom advice meeting recomendation - like a couple of my other better players - really enjoying this feature of FM2010 so far

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Last seasons review will come up tomorrow.

In pre-season, and am giving a sort of testimonial to Jared Hodgkiss for 10 years at the club, with a friendly away at West Brom of the Championship, where he started his career IRL. I'm 2-1 up in the first half, and I've got a penalty, so Jared is taking it. And he scores, nice for the testimonial player to get a goal 3-1 up, seems decent enough score for a team a league above of me. My new Premiership PA striker has scored as well, which is good.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

No complaints here at the New Lodge, as we did remarkably well in our first season in the second tier. While we had our customary lousy start, this was to be expected given the increase in quality. We were, as I had guessed last season when we truly remade the side, a mid-table Championship club. When you're in League One, that gets you promoted. When you're in the Championship, well, you finish solidly mid-table.

Of note, if we played at our 2nd half level all year long, we'd probably have been in the playoff places. Still Ricay cannot find a decent striker for love or money, and I have every intent of clearing most of the current ones out in the summer. Our defense is still top notch, and the midfield is improving. We lost our first choice keeper to a Bosman, but as is my nature, I stopped using him after he signed his pre-contract, so I anticipate we'll cope ok.

The cups were the story, if there is one. We drew Leeds for the 3rd time in 2 years in a cup competition, this time in the FA Cup 3rd round. Two late goals cancelled out their 77th minute leveller and were were on to the 4th. We then slaughtered League One Norwich, slipped by Championship Newcastle and lost a creditible 0-1 to Liverpool in the 6th round. Sadly, all 3 of those ties were at the New Lodge, where our lousy 3500 capacity prevented them from being the financial windfall they could have been at St.James or Anfield. Still, I can't imagine it did anything but help our reputation.

Again, a load of frees in, as usual with a focus on youngsters. Inevitably I foolishly bought yet another old, crappy striker for too much bob, though this was offset by our first 7-figure sale, less than crucial midfielder Esteban Rossi off to Hull for a much needed 1.8MM that helped balance the books.

Manuel Rodríguez Sánchez - Rodríguez Sánchez was steady at the back again, though not nearly as prolific against better Championship centre-halves. He was still probably my player of the season.

David Castro - The young Spaniard surpassed Captain Fratus as Sánchez's preferred partner at the back, another towering header of the ball.

Oussama Darragi - The Tunisian was the first decent AMC the club has had, coming over from the Polish OE. He was at the heart of what little good my strikers managed this season.

Alberto Romagnoli - The young Italian made more of an impact this season and clearly has high potential, with Rafa Benitez sniffing around him a bit in January. I've locked him into a new deal in the hopes of either watching him develop or extorting a huge fee.

Next year, I expect to try and make some more cash to hopefully invest in a training ground improvement, and encourage the board that we need a new stadium. If the playing squad experiences any success, then well, all the better.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

I started this year with high hopes as i possessed a strong squad but another season passed by in midtable. At the halfway point i hoped to push towards the playoff spots but the Fa cup loss sent me down the table instead. Too many goals conceeded again the problem.
In the FA Cup i was thrashed 4-0 away to Premiership Tottenham, a result that at least brought in some money. The League cup ended away to Championship Blackburn 3-2, a narrow loss and i went out to league 2 Wycombe losing 4-2 away in the JPT.

Macdonald (history) was not good enough to justify the wages he wanted since he was mostly a backup player.Gibson (history) had become 4th choice keeper and was sold on, Kisuka (history) was given away as i was unable to find any buyers, he was L1 standard but 4th choice striker and on high wages.

In goal Kudimbana started the season but lost form and Lampard took over.
In defence Craig was the standout, and played alongside Tennant with Rodgers showing good form for the first season in a while. The other defenders all were inconsistant and were in and out of the squad.
In midfield Knott and Krouchi were the main wide players with Noone again excellent in the centre. My youth product Williams showed great form at the end of the season when i started playing him.
Upfront Clarke started on fire but didn't score after Nov. McShea came in to score a few with Bailleul providing the greatest threat.

Star Player - Although not rated to improve Bailleul is still a fantastic player at this level.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Very glad to have stayed up, but to be honest we had that sewn up by about 20 games in, shame we couldn't really push on from there. Unfortunately our striker who was doing all the goalscoring got some mediocre teams interested in him, which of course meant he bottled it and scored about 2 more goals all season, so that was that for us.

Definitely need some more quality in defence and midfield - I think the strikers are probably good enough, they just can't do it all by themselves! Considering a new keeper as well which would be a shame as the current incumbent is from the youth system, but we need better.

Finances should be okay now the new seating is up and running, we made a loss of about £5m over the season, but our attendances were capped at 1335 until 28th January so that'll cover that - plus we spent a good £20m on transfers. I'm hoping for a similar kitty this time out, else we're looking at a struggle.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Summary
Great season.. we played awesome almost all season, but lost some important points in the late season which made it a battle to take the last playoffspot
We also had a nice FA Cup run but got beatin by Arsenal in the 5th round after 80 minutes where we had the lead.

Sousa Great signing this yearGarrod Decent second season, i dont think he will make it in the Championship thoughKlinkenbergConnoly The ass manager doesnt seem to like him, but he had a great season anyway

Transfers Got quite alot of players in, but it didnt seem to ruin the athmosphere

Goals for the upcoming season:
Staying up for sure. Im pretty certain that i have to get in quite a few players, but well see

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Have just won promotion to the BSP - full update to follow but I was thinking for the step up I will need a new keeper, better centre halves, some quality in the centre of the park and more oprtions out wide.

Then my scout give me the following message - looks like numbers 3 and 4 off the above shoping list are sorted!

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Im really happy with this season. I sold the whole team that I started with , replacing with my own players.Went on an 18 match unbeaten run mid way through season and I thought the title could be on the cards. Few draws and defeats in last few months meant I had to settle for play offs. To be honest I didnt expect to even finish that high. Poor cup runs. I dont really care about cups at this stage.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Can honestly say this season exceeded expectations - Media predicted 21st, I hoped for a playoff position challenge, told the board mid table finish and ended up winning the thing

Started off by shipping out the majority of the inhertited squad and staff and signing the Jocks (this years Islanders!) and getting some staff with a decent amount of knowledge.

After a shakey start espeically away from home (lost my first 4 games away) a switch to more conservative tactics in away games was probably an early season turning point which set up for the sucessful campaign. Also a lack of injuries was a major factor in the season.

League

As you can see from the table it was my home form that clinched it, combined with the fact that no other teams put in outstanding seasons. I am sure in many peoples first season this points total would not have won the league - certainly would not have been good enough in the BSS!. Although we were top for long periods we were never that secure as evidenced by the last 5 game stumble across the line. In fact I didn't win a single manager of the month and none of my players won a player of the month (I think this is a probably personal first/worst in a league winning season on FM)

[Edit update - not surprisingly I did win manager of the season and 2 of my players won awards see below]

Cups

Nothing to see here - move along please! (aim for next season is to do a little better to get some cash in!)

Squad

Here are the boys - the normal names from Celtic and Rangers plus a few gems found by the scouts / backroom advice meetings

Best 2 players were the well known (in this thread) Keatings and Fitzharris who both stayed injury free and in the goals pretty much throught the season [Edit update - Keatings won BSN player of the season and Fitzharris won golden boot (with Keatings 2nd!)].

Examples of players found by the scouts / backroom advice include Hodgkiss, Rubiales and Fernandez plus the couple in post 4354103 who as you see from my season trasnfers I managed to get after the league was won.

Aims for next season

Mid table finish would be good - need to hope the home form stays solid. I think the strikers well score in the BSP but really need a more solid keeper and centre half I reckon.

Finances

Despite staying well under the wage budget (another FM first for I think!) we lost money each month. Board have twice given cash injections so really need to get bigger gates abd do better in the cups next season.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Aims for next season:
Well the defence was fantastic this season resulting in the best goals against in the league. The striker roles and wings will need to be invested in as I didnt score as many as I would have liked. I said midtable this season and finished winning playoffs. I will say midtable again but fingers crossed for a playoff spot once again. Finances are bad but that seems to be the case with most peoples saves. Promotion the sooner the better.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

This season was a wonderful journey. Started off with very unlucky results with us performing well but not getting our just deserts. It seems to me at the early stages like our luck would be our biggest downfall all season. But things began to pick up and we did remain out of the relegation spots for a long period. Then, unexpectantly we began to go on a run, which included defeating Championship Hull in the FA Cup. That set us up for a lovely trip to Old Trafford in which we left smiling from ear to ear despite the 5-0 mauling. A cool £1 million for that match alone. We just kept going from there and in the end were actually unlucky not to clinch the 2nd place spot and go automatically up.

Henry Ali Our Star player and my new club Captain. Very happy knowing he is leading the line.Guy Daniels A loanee in which gave us great width and assited the forwards on many occasions.Anthony Edgar Again like Daniels, kept the forwards with plenty of chances and generally was one of the best players at Dartford all season.Andy Fleming The un-sung hero on the season really. Did the business and got the most goals (I think) but lacked a bit of magic like Ali. Still a cracking player at this level.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Middle of the season for Boston Utd in L2. FA Cup 3rd Rd tie against BSP Tamworth coming up. 5th in the league. Out of all the other cups. Good going so far after I downloaded a tactic as my own wasn't cutting it early on. In with a shot for automatic promotion if I keep it together. Should get by in the FA Cup and hoping for a big money tie. Wouldn't mind getting lucky and reaching the semi though.

Really fantastic season. There were a few really tough teams in the league (Wrexham, Hereford, Rushden, Yeovil) but I managed to pip them all to the title. I picked up striker Chris Dagnall for a free in the off season and he went straight into the team and picked up 40 goals total.

I had to let go of Super Kyle before the season because the finances were putting pressure on my wage budget, but he would've been the 3rd or 4th striker in the squad anyway.

On the subject of finances, I didn't get any big cup games again this season. Made it to the 2nd round of the FA Cup and quarter-finals of the FA Trophy. The board made a couple of investments during the year to keep the financial situation above "Insecure".

Don't know if my current squad will be good enough to compete in League 2. Won't be making many changes before the start of the season so will see how things go.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Bradford PASeason 2BSP2011/2012

Just made it to theFA Cup 3rd round after an incredible 2-0 replay victory against Bristol Rovers of League 2 and have been given an away game at Middlesbrough. Hopefully ill make enough to clear my debts

In the next game however lost 2-0 to Barrow in FA Trophy 1st round

Meanwhile in the league after 22 games I am lying in 3rd place, on 42 points, 4 points off top spot. Still not scoring enough goals about 10 less than teams around me...However my defence is still doing brilliantly despite step up from BSN.

Also my Dutch ace, released from Liverpool in the summer, Jordy Brouwer is doing great with 12 goals in 18 games

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Is anyone else finding that players seem to take longer to recover from injuries in the non-league. Is this an inbuilt thing in the game, that because they are part time players they aren't as fit as their full time counterparts?

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Really annoyed with my team atm. About 14 games without a win and every goal seems to be an individual mistake. Had an average start to the season average middle and an appalling end which might see me with a whole new squad next season. Really cba with a full update because i'm extremely annoyed with it so will just put some screenies up in a minute.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

2013/14 - Hendon - Blue Square Premier

Our second stint in the BSP would hopefully be much better than the one of 2 year's ago when we stumbled to a disappointing relegation. After shining last year and elminating the BSP competition, I hoped we would do better here. Only time would tell..

FA Cup - Much better than the other cup we had as we charged on through, beating League 1 Swindon on the way on TV, to a home tie (again, on TV) against Middlesbrough, losing 2-0 sadly.

Key Player Profiles

Mansour Assoumani - Another solid season for the brick at the back. He contributed goals and kept them out well.

Matt Freeman - Matt was astonishing. He joined the second half of the season and only played 16. However, he contributed 12 assists and 2 goals in those games and quite frankly, I cannot wait too see him play a full season.

Justin Niblett - Justin was decent at the right back, cancelling out the opposition's attacks down his side. He was the back-up penalty taker, good season from him.

Danny Redmond - Redmond was great, contributing goals and assists throughout the season.

Danijel Subotic - Top goalscorer with 19 goals, a decent season from the Swiss lad.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Urgh second season syndrome is not my favourite thing in the world right now. Spent about £15m on the defense in the summer to make it about 100x worse, apparently. On the odd occasion we defend semi-competently, we win, and win well. But the rest of the time it's 6-3 defeats! My £9.5m record signing centre-half has an average rating of about 5.80, that says it all. Can't wait for this season to end.

Glenn Fitzpatrick - Chippenham

Delighted that my copy has FINALLY arrived in the post. I'm jumping straight into this with Chippenham Town.

Hopefully this is the start of something beautiful for this small town of just 28,000 people. By playing phsyically and rough I will aim to outrun and outmuscle teams while looking for a finisher to add to that.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

The media were as dumb as ever and predicted a finish of 22nd and relegation whilst our board were quite happy for us to try to avoid relegation. To this end they furnished me with a £300,000 budget.

League - As it turned out we were just as dominant, if not more so, than last season. We began with a tough 2-2 draw at York but then won our next 43 games. Gateshead had the audacity to hold us to a draw at their ground but then we won our final league game to complete a second successive league season unbeaten helped mainly by the goals of the superb Radoslav Vasilev. Naturally we topped the player stats in a few areas. We also set a new record win against poor Stevenage.

Squad - I hardly brought in anyone transfer wise but those that I did strengthened the 1st XI.

FA Trophy - Not only did we get all the way to our 2nd successive Final but we defeated Wrexham yet again to complete another stunning double.

Player Profiles: -

Radoslav Vasilev (age 21) - Well what can say about this guy. A massive 66 goals in all competitions tells you why Ramon Calliste is unhappy about being benched and then released. He was absolutely awesome and hopefully can be a quality player for the next couple of seasons. One dumb thing about FM that I will never understand is that when he was signed on a free his value was £130,000. However, after his superb season it was £30,000!!!

Jak Alnwick (age 18) - According to scouts he may well be good enough to get us all the way up to the Championship. Since we picked him up on a free from Newcastle United he achieved 11 clean sheets in 18 League games.

Finances - A very healthy bank account helped mainly by my refusal to pay any transfer fees up to now.

All time XI - A few players made it in the squad but it may be a while before Vasilev loses his place.

This season I intend to get rid of plenty of deadwood. As we are moving up the Leagues pretty quickly we do need to get rid of players who simply aren't good enough. I am still going to chase Cups on all fronts and hope to make it to Wembley in the FA Cup or League Cup as a club outside the Premiership.

Last edited by Stephanie McMahon\'s Secret Lover; 02-12-2009 at 08:31.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Cheers snake. Actually its my defence thats seriously impressing me. I've seen other players manage 150 goals in a season but they also tend to concede about 50.

UPDATE: The League Cup campaign ended in dramatic style at only the 2nd Round stage after Cambridge City were drawn at home to Tottneham. Typical!!! Spurs won 6-5 on penalties after a 3-3 draw. Both sides had the chance to score a winning penalty before Spurs managed it at the 2nd attempt.

We just got held to a 3-3 draw at home to Oxford but top League 2 on GD in a 4-way tie with 13 points from the first 5 games.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

This was another underachieving season, i started in terrible form having only 2 central defenders. I rose up the table until with 11 games to go i was 3 points off the playoffs, the pressure clearly got my players as i only managed another 8 points for the rest of the season.
In the League cup i lost 3-0 away to Championship Wigan, in the FA cup i drew 2-2 away to championship Bolton before losing the replay 3-2, i was the better in both matches and was unlucky. None of my cup matches made any money as the higher teams had poor support. My finances stayed the same largely to the amount of transfer fees in.

My chairman sold on several player over the season who i wanted to keep, Williams was my best youth product, Bartlett i was grooming to play in the middle and Tennant (history) was another youth player who was the main stay of my defence.Lampard (history) i cashed in on even though he was my no1 keeper as i had several keepers of a similar standard.Hague (history) moved on a bosman and Craig (history) was reluctantly let go as his wage demands were too high.

In goal new signing Warren was my main keeper.
My defence was generally poor yet again although Rodgers had his best season in a while as he played more games.
In midfield Assogba's 4 red cards proved very costly especially towards the end of the season. Noone's form dipped from previous years and Morrison was the mainstay in the centre instead, on the wings Krouchi and Knott were reasonably good.
Up frony Clarke again started the season on fire before tailing off, Clifford stepped up from the reserves well. Bailleul and Mcshea were disappointing.

Star Player - No player truely excelled but Clifford stepped to be became top scorer.

Umm, WTF? This season was way above expectations. I didn't strengthen the squad that much in pre-season - half the players I signed were brought in as back-ups to current players. As you can see by the graph screenshot above, I was in the playoff places for almost all of the season. Beat Dag & Red by 4-2 on agg in the playoff semis, then sneaked a tight 1-0 victory over Luton in the final. The gate receipts also helped bring my finances up by about £300k, which was nice.

Gonna be interesting playing in League 1 with a 3000 capacity stadium. Tried asking for an expansion, but got the usual council rejection guff. No sign of a new stadium being built.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

looking at other peoples seasons i'm realising the level of support at Merthyr is terrible.
I'm in 2019/20 in my 4th year in league 1, i only have 291 season tickets and my average crowd is around 2700, with a decrease for each of the last 3 seasons.
explains my dire financial situation since the next worse team has 2000 more people turn up each game.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Ahh now my internet is working again I can update Carshalton's progress. I've got to update 3 seasons here so sorry for the worst update in this thread.
Blue Square Premier 2011/12 - Final Position - Play-Off Final
Injuries after January stopped us from winning the league but the play offs were enough as we managed to defeat Rushden after extra time.
League Two 2012/13 - Final Position Ran away with the league scoring shedloads along the way.

League One 2013/14 - Final Position
So easy when you have Danny Haynes and Michael Owen upfront. They did both manage to go on 10 game goal droughts though. Got through to the 5th round of the FA Cup before getting done 6-0 by Aston Villa away from home.

Takeover (Chairman is now Edwin van der Sar , he wanted to replace me with Robbie Blake though ) 1.6m was then pumped into the club.

Current Squad - I still havn't spent any money in the transfer market but there are some good players in there like Areola although he only played 5 games at PSG and therefore didnt progress at all and has if anything gone backwards. Hopefully he can reach the levels he has for others.

Star Player
- Christ Enam - Came through the ranks while I was in the BSP. Current England U21 regular.

Hoping to reach play-offs this season, squad is nicely balanced but the defence is a bit shaky but Jelle should help that, still got a few players I've had since the first season who aren't up to scratch though. Hopefully the stadium will be upgraded soon as there is money in the bank and everygame is a sell-out. Same with the training faclities although the youth is ok for this level.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

A fascinating season at the New Lodge, in all kinds of ways. In the first half we couldn't put a string of wins together to save a life, we spent January having bid accepted over my head for the majority of my first choice midfield, and then we spent the next 4 months on a fantastic run, scorching all in our path with a young strikeforce shooting us comfortably into the playoff places.

The biggest difference between this and the year prior is that the horrid run in the fall resulted in a hatful of draws, as opposed to losses. That put us in position where a hot streak put us in the playoffs rather than just below. We turned the juice on in November and surged into January looking at the top-half of the table, where my Chairman decided to turn Ricay into E-bay, accepting below value bids for both my first choice MCs, after accepting low bids for both my second choice MCs in the summer. Worse yet, they're on the dreaded payments rather than the up-front cash the club desperately needed. Those departures, plus some resultant hard feelings from those left behind meant that we went on another lousy run of draws in January.

At that point, I thought we might be about to implode. Most of my stars were about to become too expensive for a Championship squad in a 3500 capacity stadium, I really felt this year was our window to get promoted, and then we were looking at a rebuilding year. February rolled around, and I was proven right. The Blues went on a a tear as we only lost two games from the end of January to the end of the season, and as it turned out, we qualified for the playoffs comfortably ahead of the 7th placed side.

From the playoffs, I really thought we had a shot. While all the other teams in the lottery were superior to my Ricay side, we had momentum and tournaments are about form as much as skill. In the semi-final, we drew Brighton. The first leg was at New Lodge, where we jumped out to a 2-0 on 27 minutes, scored once more in the second half and weathered the inevitable last 30 minute storm conceding only once to take a 3-1 lead to Brighton.

The second leg should have been comfortable, but Brighton nicked a goal on 11' and had us under the cosh the whole match. We struck back with a breakaway goal on 68' but disaster struck with an own goal from a corner on 73', and the dodgiest of penalties conceded and converted in the 81st. The score was now 4-4 on aggregate and I was panicked. In extra time however, we had much fresher legs, and two counter attacking goals, first by Swen Can three minutes in, and then Jose Peixoto stuck 7 minutes later to tie the match and give us a 2 goal aggregate lead. Brighton would have to score three times in the remaining extra-time to advance, and even with my Left Back being sent off for a second yellow on 102', we went to our dourest, long-ball hoofing ways to ensure a trip to Wembley with a Premiership place on the line. 6-4(agg)(aet)

We would face Nottingham Forest. We split with the Tricky Trees this past season, and though they were a much stronger side, I felt we had a chance. After a nervy first half an hour, Forest were in the ascendancy, and they struck first blood in the 40th minute with a 30 yard thunderbolt. I gave the side encouragement at the half, and Rodríguez Sánchez scored with a powerful header from an indirect free kick to tie the match in the 49th. Forest replied almost immediately in the 54th after a gaffe from my keeper. That man Rodríguez Sánchez knotted the score again on 75' on a goalmouth scramble following a corner. The game became nervy again, and eventually went to extra time. Extra time was a damp squib, neither team risking enough to lose, and we went to penalties. 5-3, with captain Fratus scoring the 5th and clinching penno to improbably send Ricay to the Premier League.
In the close season, we found we would be adding 10000 seats
(despite my being told on several occassions that New Lodge was unexpandable) to meet EPL regulations. This would take 10 months and in the interim we would ground-share with Southend United. Additionally, I apparently am a legend in the midlands, as I was offered both the Birmingham and Aston Villa jobs in a span of 10 days.

Swen Can - The young German was a key piece of the squad, scoring critical goals in the playoff-semi.

Jose Peixoto - The Portuguese sprinter was a revelation this season, scoring and providing in bunches.

Alberto Romagnoli - The young Italian was my first choice target man, and does the business if sufficiently coddled.

Marcinho - Ricay's record transfer, the Brazillian keeper was extremely consistent at the back.

I've no idea if we can stay up, as we're broke, seemingly not getting any payout for our Championship league position, though I've only ever been relegated once in any FM/CM. If we can stay up though, the stadium upgrades should make a huge impact on our bottom line. On an aside, I don't know if I've ever enjoyed an FM season as much as this one. This is a top, top game.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Accrington Stanley's goalkeeper just scored against me with an 80-yard free-kick, to win 2-1.
Usually I'd be fuming, but today is different, as Chester beat 2nd place Darlington 3-1, meaning I'm BSP champions with 1 game to go, and the FA Trophy final to look forward to!

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

A dreadful season and one that I will have to take on the chin. With a final place of 9th not seeming like the end of the world I suggest you take a look at the graph. We literally could not defend for sh*t in the first half of the season and sometimes went for literally 6 or 7 games without winning. I had money to spend and I spent it badly. We were bad in the cups and with the exception of Henry Ali all my team should be shot at dawn for pathetic nature of their performances.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Well I've finally reached January. It's been one hell of a gruelling season. I'm currently sitting 18th but I'm a point off 15th with a game in hand, and 3 points off 14th, so I'm doing alright. However drawing seems to be my forte or something. I've had just 3 wins, and 10 draws, then a little 7 losses which we can forget about. I've drawn against Man City, drawn twice against Arsenal (also drew against them in the Carling Cup but lost in penalties), drawn against Liverpool, drawn against Everton and drawn against Blackburn. It's been a strange season to say the very least, however I have to say my strikeforce is some of the strongest in the league, with my star striker Caamano sitting third top striker. For a team in 18th place, thats not too bad. My defence however is completely woeful, and I really need to get a better goalkeeper with Mihaylov constantly injured and Haber just not coming close to cutting it. However, its been an enjoyable season and very much a learning season. I feel that come the summer, with my new stadium and hopefully a boost in exciting players, I will see myself end in a more respectable position (unless of course I have a second-half of the season superpush, which is unlikely)

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

With 40 games gone Nantwich are finally safe from relagation in League Two in our second season - which is a relief as at one point things weren't looking good as we went nine games without winning. We still have an outside chance of making the playoffs but it's not looking likely.

Our main problem is a lack of consistency - my defence are either solid or gift goals away, whilst upfront we are either deadly or woeful.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Bradford PASeason 3Coca-Cola League 22012-2013

Well it wasn't a third promotion in a row . I said I would avoid relegation and I did but I had hoped to finish a bit higher up. The team is due another overhall like in the first season.We were in bottom 8-9 most of the season but never really under threat of relegation. We would go 7-8 games without a win then manage to pick up a fair few points in the next 7-8 games . Out of FA Cup and League cup in 1st rounds and not much better in JP Trophy. Squad simply not good enough. Too much pressure on my 6-7 good players who couldnt make up for the miscomings of the majority of the squad.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Quite a disappointing season really, no signs of progress anywhere. Tried to sort the defense with a £9.5m centre-half, who attempted to systematically relegate us before being shipped off (for a £3m profit ) in January. I managed to sell some other rubbish players for ludicrous fees, including £7m for the "new Ashley Cole" who really wasn't, meaning we finished the season £5m in the black - which makes for a very nice change

God knows what's going to happen next season, pretty much depends entirely on whether I can actually buy a midfielder better than any of the ones I got promoted with (seriously, they're all still first choice). Might try and save some cash too, we have debts to pay and obviously I don't know how to spend it (see £9.5m centre-half).

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Goiing into my first season in the BSP I was not very confident, especially considering my prediction by the media of 24th place. The club however did a respectful job and managed to easily secure a safe psotion in the division in 11th place. The highlight of the year was being crowned FA Trophy Champions with a remarkable run in that competition.

Top Transfer NewsMark Fotheringham (In) - The journeyman midefielder was signed on a free from Blackpool and brings a definite alement of class to the Boston Utd midfield. He is an instant key member of the club.Daniel Nardiello (In) - Another player coming over from Blackpool on a free Nardiello is a technically gifted striker for this level of football. He should make a big impact.Matty Hughes (In) - The central defender comes in and will lead the center of the defence for Boston Utd.

Cup ResultsFA Cup - Not much to say. Wrexham beat us in our first game of the tournament.FA Trophy - Winners of the 2012/13 FA Trophy! This is the first time the club has won the event and it is also my first my trophy as a manager. The final game was a nail biter right to end with Boston Utd winning on penalties!

Top 5 performers of the season:Daniel Nardiello - (Avg rating 7.02) The newly signed striker got off to a rough start but found his form by mid-season and was a dominant force for the final half of the year. Derek Bassi - (Avg rating 6.98) The newly signed CB/RB from Canada had a solid first season with the club.Phil Quirk -(Avg rating 6.96) Another new signing at the top of the seasonal performance charts, Phil had a very solid season and is a key player in the LB position.Jeromy Noslin - (Avg rating 6.96) The often injured attacking midfielder was a great layer when he was on the on-field. He had a few brilliant games but unfortunately his season was marred by injuries. Hopefully in 2013/14 he can stay healthy and keep up the performances. Matty Hughes - (Avg rating 7.01) The new signing star defender had a decent first year at the club. I will expect more from him.

Outlook for 2013/14 Season in the Blue Square Premier Division:
I would love to make a promotion push but I think a more realistic aim is for safe mid table again. My transfer goals are to find a top strike partner to play Nardiello and to improve my defensive line.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Im getting really annoyed now... Every week there is a news item that says "pressure gets to.... " its really starting to **** me off. and its always the same 2-3 players where this item comes. Has this been reported as a bug ?

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Just reached February, couldn't afford to make a single signing and my current squad will simply have to do. But damn am I chuffed, my star man Caamano (Premiership top goalscorer) almost left us, after a 17.5million offer was accepted by the chairman on deadline day, however Mr. Caamano knows where his priorities lie, rejecting a contract. I was so gutted when the transfer was accepted but then when it was declined, I was delighted. Sadly despite having the league's top scorer, I am sitting in 18th spot, gonna take more to avoid the drop.

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Before season started there was a rumer i was chasing Rocha. Still wondering whats wrong with him since Benfica let him go so cheap. Championship going soso so far just outside playoff spots atm. And Rafa Benitez was just watching my other striker thats netted 20 goals and 8 assists in 32 games . I'm scared now don't wanna loose him!

Re: dafuge's FM10 challenge

Smithers - Oxford City - Blue Square Premier - 2013/14

League Prediction - 24thLeague Position - 1st

Another quite excellent season to secure back-to-back promotions, and finally enter the promised land of the football league. Predicted to come a definite last in a difficult relegation battle, we proved our critics wrong quite spectacularly by dominating the league, going unbeaten at home, and reaching the final of the FA Trophy, only to succumb to a bitterly disappointing 4-1 defeat to York, only our 7th loss of the season. Winning the manager of the season was a nice little bonus too.

FA Cup run - not a brilliant run, as although we dispatched Didcot 3-1 in the 4th qualifying round, we were convincingly beaten 4-2 at Macclesfield in the 1st round, thanks to a Gavin Tomlin hat-trick.FA Trophy run - a fantastic cup-run saw us emerge victorious against the likes of St. Albans, Bath, Woking, Weymouth and Stafford, but we fell apart at our first trip to Wembley. We were always going to be second-best, as our best midfielder Francis Quarm got injured (in an otherwise injury-free season) shortly before the match, and star striker Stephen Thompson was forced to come off just half an hour in too. Things went from bad to worse, as we saw a goal disallowed for offside, and we capitulated just before half-time as York capitalised on our defensive frailties, and from then on there was no looking back, despite a late Kyle Wilson goal. It was to be a melancholy end to a season, but even so our success in the league more than makes up for it.

Transfers - although the transfers in screen may suggest otherwise, the main crux of the team from last season remained the same, with most of our new signings used as backup, most only playing a handful of games, some not at all. Anthony Wordsworth however quickly established himself in midfield due to his terrific versatility, and although his stats may imply a poor season, goalkeeper Grzegorz Szamotulski was for the most part exceptional in goal (except when he got lobbed from 80 yards by Accrington Stanley's own goalie). Our signing of the season though was by far striker Stephen Thompson who immediately settled in right at home with partner Gareth Evans in one of the best seasons I have ever witnessed in terms of striker parterships. Scoring 35 league goals in 36 starts, and further influence in the cups, he was consistently in formiddable form, earning himself a place in the BSP team of the season (alongside Evans), top BSP scorer (with Evans coming 3rd), and ultimately player of the season.
Meanwhile, Oxford said goodbye to unhappy striker Darryn Stamp, aging left-back Sacha Opinel and midfielder Rossi Jarvis, who will be forever remembered for his input into our first couple of seasons.

Squad - at the back, we remained the same as last season, with highlights being Jon Boardman overtaking Jermaine McSporran's appearance record, and Phil Anderson's consistency. Midfield was again solid, with a strong rotation policy of wingers, and Solomon Shields, Ryan Hall and Luke Thurlbourne coming in to impress whenever needed. Attack was certainly our biggest strength, as Evans' (fans' player of the year) and Thompsons' partnership saw them jointly notch up 72 goals, and for the majority of the season they were in constant competition with each other to score the most goals.

Finances - weren't a huge problem this season; in fact due to our excellence in the league, our transfer budget was increased from nothing to a hefty £400k. I used this to pour more money into the wage budget, and combining this with the sales of expensive players such as Rossi Jarvis, we are now in a very secure position.

Aims for next season:
- survive obviously
- get a decent parent club (I say this every year but never get round to it), especially since we're now in the same league as our current one Oxford Utd and so lose those connections
- just generally expand the squad and improve key areas